I am an Australian Citizen by birth and My Husband is an Indian Citizen. We have been married for 3 Years and 9 months. We have two children one is born in Australia and the younger one is four months old born in India. I am currently in India Living with my husband’s Family for the past 8 months. I came here with my husband to do our wedding reception because we got married in Australia.

My husband was on student visa in Australia and overstayed his visa for 2 years.

We were dating at that time and moved in together in FEB 1999 and Decided to get married in year 2000. We had our first child in Australia in June 2002. As we got married in Australia and already had one child I didn’t want to see my Parents In Laws for the first time with two Kids. At the Airport we were then told by immigration that my husband overstayed his visa and It was OK to still go to India and apply for the return visa their. So we came to India in July 2003. We had our wedding Reception at my In Laws in OCT 2003 and invited my entire husband’s relatives and friends and performed all the Customs of Hindu marriage which we missed out in Australia. We had our second Child in India on in Oct 2003. And now we want to go home.

I have been told on the phone by New Delhi DIEMA that it takes up to 9 – 12 months to process the application and we want to go back ASAP. Are there any other solutions to get back home earlier?

One option I came across, although you will need to confirm the validity with an expert is to enter Australia on say a travel visa, and submit your application for a residency visa (spouse visa) in Australia. It may be however that the overstay on the student visa may cause problems in obtaining a travel visa: again get some proper advice on this.

As you will be in Australia on a non-substantive visa, but applying for a substantive visa, you can then apply for a bridging visa which will allow you to stay in Australia until the decision is made on the spouse visa.

There are restrictions to the bridging visa's however, such as not being allowed to work unless you can demonstrate genuine hardship.

You should, as I mentioned above, get some advice on this approach from an expert.

Some further info can be found on http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/bridging.htm

Sorry not sure how it works in New Delhi....

But we rang Aus House in London, was given standard reply that Spouse Visa would take upto 4 months, but actually got it within the week.

The New Delhi website has 6 - 9 months processing time stated on the website.

An option is to obtain a visitors visa and go to Australia to apply. There are risks that DIMIA will slap a no further applications condition on the visa or that border control will deny entry.

Either that or move to London and apply there. That of course depends on both of your visa rights for the UK,

Me and My Husband has been thinking of applying for working holiday visa in Uk but I am not sure if his overstay in australia is going to create any problems. and how we will be able to provide joint rental, bills etc.

It is a good idea to start with the documentation now. You do not need joint bills. Correspondence that shows you 2 living together at the same place at the same time will do. Joint travel documents will also help.

Overstaying in Australia can cause issues when returning to Australia and that would require you to speak to an agent. Typically they may ban entry for a number of years depending on the severity of overstaying. After that time your partner may then reapply to get into Australia.

I overstayed by a day and had no issues but a 2 year overstay is very different.

Does this mean he is going to have problems with uk visa too. as the Aussie visa on his passport Expired 2 Years ago and Departure stamps from australia on his passport are last years.

UK immigration are a law unto themselves and there is that chance that they might think he would overstay. There are some threads in the Returning to UK forum regarding Indians applying for WHVs for the UK.

Come to germany ! Much easier to get defacto visa here than in UK.

Chris

He may not be able to apply in germany on tourist visa

Does Germany offer WHVs to Indians? Germany maybe quicker by a week but it is not easier.